Hitherto, it was taken for granted that every community in the state has an access road. But the narrative does not wash. Beyond the narrative of fine stretches of road that dot the state, lay a dozen others that are overly treacherous and bumpy, leaving many communities inaccessible. Most of these communities are in the riverine area of the state and have low-lying land that is flooded in wet seasons and at high tide.
Gaining access to these communities at certain periods in a year was difficult, at best circuitous, and done through the neighboring states. Onono, Umuikwu, Umudora, Umuomu and the Igala-speaking communities of Inoma and Nzam, all in Anambra West, accessed their places through Delta State. While access to the state’s oil field in Umueje and Aguleri-Otu in Ayamelum and Anambra East council areas respectively was gained through Enugu state.
But unlike access through the Delta, entering the oil field through Enugu was fraught with a lot of danger, perhaps, because of its economic importance. Sparks of violent reaction became almost a daily occurrence between the abutting communities on both sides of the states. The Igga community in Enugu state very often resisted the use of its land as a thoroughfare. The skirmishes that erupted on each occasion left the communities worse off.
The case of Ogwuaniocha, another oil-bearing community in Ogbaru council area, was not any better. Like others, Ogwuaniocha equally had no access to good road, notwithstanding its economic importance in the state. In fact, it never had tarred road until the current effort by the Obiano government to have a road asphalted there. The level of neglect of these riverine communities was so much. Eager to deal with the problem and harness the economic potentials of the communities (many of which also double as the food basket of the state), the Obiano government decided to double down on tackling the tortuous marshy terrain and cut a road through the communities. Only a government that does not play politics with its people can undertake the responsibility of building roads in the swampy communities.
Conscious of the cost, but convinced of its economic impact, the government undertook a 14 kilometer road to Nzam with a bridge, which has almost been completed. Only about 2.4 kilometers of that stretch are awaiting sand filling before asphalting to Nzam is completed. Another 42 kilometer of road is being constructed from Aguleri Uno/Aguleri-Otu/Mkpunando to the oil field.
In Ayamelum, the government is doing 11.2 kilometers of road from Umueje community to the oil field with a bridge, which is also completed. A 12.4 kilometer Ogwuaniocha road, with about 24 culverts, is under construction, while the longest bridge constructed by any state government in the Southeast, which stands at 280 meters, was constructed across the Omambala River, linking Aguleri-Otu and Aguleri-Uno.
Building roads in marshy terrains entails a lot of sand filling and fortification for it to withstand flooding, water log and high tide. It is therefore expected that the effort of the Obiano government in building up these riverine areas should be costly and physically exerting. The cost, monetary and physical, is not made better by the increasing challenge of gully erosion in the state.
However, the effort to deepen interconnectivity in the state is not restricted to the riverine areas of the state. About 72 roads in the central zone of the state and 53 in the south are either completed or ongoing, including the Nkwo Enugwu Ukwu bypass, Abatete-Oraukwu-Alor bypass that takes traffic off the busy Eke-Agu Abatete market.
There are other roads either completed, ongoing or undergoing repairs with bridges completed or ongoing which the Obiano administration is working on. Apart from the three flyovers in Awka, the government has completed over eight bridges, including Nengo, Odene, Iyiora, Umueje, SARS-Nando, Nzam Aguleri Uno-Aguleri Otu. It is expected that at the turn of dry season many of the ongoing constructions will be completed.
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